Ricerc@Sapienza

Eating disorders (EDs) are associated with high levels of mortality and impaired quality of life. Their treatment is complex, invasive, and often failed. The poor understanding of their neurophysiological bases hinders the development of effective interventions. Dysfunctional inhibitory control has been implicated in EDs with anorexia nervosa at the over-controlling boundary and bulimia nervosa/binge eating disorders at the opposite impulsive extremity. Neuroimaging studies consistently reported alterations in cerebellar circuitry in EDs, and recent findings indicated cerebellum (Cb) role in inhibitory control of thoughts and actions. The involvement of Cb in visceral and autonomic homeostasis in feeding behavior and appetite regulation, was repeatedly highlighted. The cerebellar cortex projects to the dentate nucleus, which has bidirectional connections with the hypothalamus that finally regulates food intake. However, very little is currently known about the neurocognitive physiology of food-related inhibitory control. The current project's goal is to understand the functional role of the cerebellum in self-regulatory inhibitory control. We hypothesize that real-time effective cerebellar connectivity and inhibitory control are related to EDs symptoms. Namely, the current project aims to determine how a single session of non-invasive stimulation of the cerebellar cortex by employing different transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) protocols coupled with the presentation of visual food stimuli may modulate food-specific inhibitory control in healthy participants. Two new experimental tasks are designed to evaluate self-regulatory food-related inhibitory control: a motor food-specific Go/NoGo and a cognitive food specific task-switching paradigms. In a randomized cross-over design, task performance following cathodal/anodal/sham cerebellar tDCS will be correlated with body mass index and a psychological assessment of impulsivity traits.